Google has borne the brunt of criticism concerning the non-availability of its premium flagship mobile OS - Ice Cream Sandwich - on many high-end smartphones. For some, the hardware limitation is a major hindrance while others require a custom ROM to support the new update. The focus in the Galaxy series has now entirely shifted to the Galaxy Note, which is the first of its kind "Phablet" - a hybrid of smartphone and tablet harbouring the support for most-awaited ICS update.

Rootzwiki has just unleashed the i717 ROM for the AT&T Galaxy Note. Despite Samsung's announcement for ICS release on Galaxy Note in Q2, consumers wary of the long wait could jump the gun and use the custom ROM mod. According to RedmondPie, the Release Candidate version is being finalised and currently in its beta stage, suggesting a public Over The Air release to the end-user is no more than a couple of weeks away.

The Galaxy Nexus is followed by S2 as being one of the first smartphones to enjoy the Ice Cream Sandwich, although both Android devices feature a similar interface to boot. Similar to iOS jailbreaks, Android-custom ROMs are gaining popularity, as they unlock new features and app support with every new software update.

The Galaxy Note, with its 5-inch screen and scope for creative apps, is finding more success among Android flagship devices. For those who love to test their geeky skills and fancy meddling with manual flash updates, this tutorial should come in handy.

Before we indulge in custom ROM modding, it may be noted that Premium Suite is unavailable with this build. So, an odd couple of TouchWiz launcher crashes on first boot are obviously expected (but not on subsequent boots). The crash results may persist while adding Google Play accounts but only just on first boot.

Users need to note the guide is limited to Windows only and there is no Mac Support. As always, it is recommended to backup your data before modding your ROM, as there is every chance you might lose data or damage data while running this procedure.